The Afterfire
by AsherAtori
Summary: What happened after the lights dimmed out and Dan gave Megan the injection? Challenge piece, from a writing contest, tied for second place.


The hand stroked his face but it was cold. Then an enraged scream echoed around him and the feeling of affection was exchanged for fingernails tearing into the tender flesh of his cheeks. Dan Cain cried out and pulled back. His attacker rose from the operating table where she had been laying cold and lifeless minutes before.

Megan was dead and alive at the same time and Dan found himself once again reminded of the creatures from the horror films that had scared him as a child. Zombies hungry for human flesh and brains; they had the same look to them that she did. The snarl splayed across her features feral, inhuman, as if all conscious thought had given way to animalistic instinct was frightening. She was just as the others had been, no longer his love, no longer the woman he pined for.

Dan whimpered and backed into a wall. He had known this would happen hadn't he? It had happened every other time. Megan moved towards him, her steps clumsy and rigid. She hissed at him. Blood had begun to flow out of her mouth staining her chin red.

"Jesus, Megan, snap out of it already!" Dan cried pressing himself further back into the wall. Naturally the doors were on the other side of the room and it would be a while before anyone came for him. His luck had been like that a lot quite frequently. Since the first night he had watched his cat die and come back to life anything that could go wrong usually did. This was certainly one of those situations.

He had wanted to blame Herbert West for this. The tiny, socially inept man had after all, been the cause of the chaos. Though it had been he who had smuggled Herbert into the cooler in search of fresh cadavers to experiment on. A decision, he had regretted and one that lead to the reanimated corpses now roaming the campus.

Dan decided if he got out alive he was done with roommates. Megan's reanimated form rushed him, and pounced. Dan crumpled to a heap on the ground, trying his hardest to keep his throat from being ripped out. The reanimated Megan was persistent. Her nails dug into his flesh. Dan screamed in anguish.

"I need him! Off you petulant harpy!" Dan recognized the shrill tenor voice. Someone had taken hold of Megan's scalp, pulling her off. Megan turned on her assailant with grappling fists and a rage that seemed to have tripled.

Doctor Herbert West, corpse-reanimating aficionado was her new prey. Megan freed herself and began pummeling him like a rag doll. "For heaven's sake Dan, kill her already!" the smaller man cried out. Dan shook himself from his trance and reached for a scalpel from a tray next to the operating table. He waited a few moments longer, letting his once dead lover continue to strike West before placing the scalpel against the back of Megan's neck and quickly severing her spinal cord. She collapsed between the two men.

West glared at Dan for a moment before regarding the corpse. "What happened?" he asked sucking in air.

"In the elevator, when we were trying to get out. One of them got hold of her." Dan's chest heaved slightly. He leaned down and stroked strands of hair that were not caked with blood.

"We need to leave Dan." West said, readjusting his glasses and tie. "I am certain someone has contacted the local authorities by now." West hauled the larger man up and pulled him from the operating room. Dan paid little attention in that moment. Hardly noting the faces that moved passed him or the echoes of screams around them. They all looked like Megan, every one of them taking on one of her expressions. Yes, the authorities would surround the school in moment if they hadn't already but he cared little for such in his grief.

"How did you get away?" Dan asked once they were no longer in the halls.

West didn't answer. His features were set in stone; his gaze focused forward, hell bent on escape. They were off the campus and seconds later. "Another failed experiment." West said no longer dragging Dan along. "And I've lost all of my serum." He shook his head frustrated. "Back to square one once more." Herbert West turned and faced Dan.

"Come along then Dan, we haven't anytime to lose."

Dan laughed. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to go any further with you. I am going back to turn myself in."

West crossed his arms defiantly, "Fine then. Throwaway opportunity. Going to prison won't take back what we did"

Dan froze in his tracks and turned to face West. "What would you have me do? They will come looking for us you know."

West nodded, "We leave the country. Head north perhaps and start over, new names, new identities. I can't do this without you Dan."

Dan stared at West evenly. Megan's face flashed into his mind and a pang struck his heart. She was gone, the light in his life, stolen by scientific experiments gone awry. West was right of course; nothing would take back what they did. And so he stood, his body chilled by the early morning air contemplating whether to carry on with West in hopes that things eventually worked out in their favor or return to the campus and confess his wrongdoings. He sighed aloud.

"I'm going to regret this aren't I?" Dan said, slowly moving to Herbert's side.

"Perhaps. Though that is up to you. If you are a worthwhile assistant I believe you may indeed enjoy yourself."

Dan wasn't entirely sure if that would be possible but decided against furthering the conversation. They walked into the sunrise, together, their shadows long against the concrete eventually merging into one. "So how did you get away again?" Dan asked after a few moments had passed. West didn't respond, instead merely smiled.


End file.
